In accordance with the present invention, an adaptive cruise control system includes a radio frequency (RF) transmit receive (TR) sensor module (or more simply nullsensornull) disposed such that a detection zone is deployed in front of a vehicle. The sensor includes a sensor antenna system which comprises a transmit antenna for emitting or transmitting an RF signal and a receive antenna for receiving portions of the transmitted RF signal which are intercepted by one or more objects within a field of view of the transmit antenna and reflected back toward the receive antenna. With this particular arrangement, a detection system that detects objects in a region about a front of a vehicle is provided. If the system determines that the vehicle is approaching an object or that an object is approaching the vehicle, then the sensor initiates steps that are carried out in accordance with a set of rules that control an accelerator of the vehicle. The accelerator is adjusted to maintain a safe trailing distance behind the detected object.